BISHOP WILLIAM L. STEVENS, SERVED IN PLANTATION

Episcopal Bishop William Louis Stevens, who as vicar of St. Benedict's Church in Plantation led the congregation from mission to parish status over 19 years, died at his home in Plantation on Tuesday. He was 65.

Bishop Stevens, who retired in 1994 after 14 years as a Wisconsin bishop, was ill a long time after two strokes, said Kathy Bass of Plantation, his longtime friend.

She and others remembered Bishop Stevens as churchly yet warm, comfortable with fellow priests yet conscientious about ministering to parishioners.

"He was affable, sociable, the perfect model of a parish priest _ caring for people and their spiritual direction," said Bishop Calvin O. Schofield of the Diocese of Southeast Florida, which includes Broward and Palm Beach counties.

Schofield will preach at Bishop Stevens' Requiem Mass at 11 a.m. today at St. Benedict's, 7801 NW Fifth St. Main celebrant of the Eucharist will be Bishop Russell Jacobus, who succeeded Bishop Stevens as spiritual leader of Fond du Lac, Wis.

Bass, a lay eucharistic minister at St. Benedict's, recalled Bishop Stevens as "the king of puns and a wonderful storyteller. He enjoyed the company of good friends."

Born on Jan. 12, 1932, in Yuba City, Calif., Bishop Stevens earned a bachelor of arts degree from San Francisco State University in 1953. He received his bachelor of Sacred Theology degree from the General Theological Seminary in New York City in 1956.

He was ordained as a deacon and then priest in California, serving congregations there and in England. When he returned to the United States in 1961, he was appointed vicar of the Plantation church, then its rector when it achieved full parish status. He served as dean of the Broward Convocation of Churches and president of the West Broward Religious Leaders Fellowship. He also held several positions within church circles, including president of the Standing Committee.

Bishop Stevens was one of two priests at St. Benedict's who became bishops. The other, the Rev. Dorsey Henderson, was hired by Bishop Stevens as assistant rector, then as the dean at the cathedral in Fond du Lac. Henderson became bishop of South Carolina in 1994.

"He was a holy priest, a great pastor and teacher, a good friend," Henderson said by phone from Turkey, where he was on a two-week tour of biblical sites.

As one measure of Bishop Stevens' priorities, recalled when they once planned an afternoon trip to the Keys: A request came in for family counseling. Henderson hesitated, but Bishop Stevens did not. "Dorsey, the priesthood always comes first," he said.

Popular with other priests as well, Bishop Stevens ran in 1978 for the post of bishop of Southeast Florida, an electoral process in the Episcopal Church. At first, most priests favored Bishop Stevens, while the laity vote went to Schofield. Only on a second ballot a week later did Schofield win.

Bishop Stevens fared better two years later with the Diocese of Fond du Lac, a conservative district in Wisconsin cheese country. Upon his election in 1980, he said jokingly that going there was "like sending an alcoholic to a winery."

He kept his single dwelling in Plantation, renting it out until he retired. Even after retiring in 1994 and returning to Plantation, Bishop Stevens continued his service to the church, filling in at St. Benedict's and doing confirmations for Schofield around the diocese. However, two strokes in 1995 left him largely bedridden, Bass said.

Bishop Stevens never married and is survived by his sister, Marilyn Garcia; two nephews, Steven and James Garcia; and a niece, Suzanne Leiva. Interment will be on the church grounds.